Anything You Like
by LStarrunner
Summary: Astrotrain flies to Earth with 3 passengers, one of whom takes an interest in him. Earthside, AT establishes himself as a necessary part of the Con base. His new friend assists. AT obsesses & is encouraged. MorMA.G1.Slash. Graphic Child & Substance Abuse.
1. Anything You Like

Title: _Anything You Like_

Universe: loosely G1 cartoon surrounding Astrotrain's transfer to Earth.

Rated: NC-17 for detailed physical intimacy between mechanical beings. Mention of abuse, long past.

Pairing: Astrotrain/Decepticon mech; brief reference to Astrotrain/Guardian femme.

Warning: Notable size discrepancy, on the order of a Dinobot with a Minibot.

Author's Notes: Never mine, except for Enny and that MiG-29 Fulcrum. 7090 words. A version of this story was an entry for the under-loved challenge in November, 2007, at MechaErotica.

-:-radio transmission-:-

* * *

Astrotrain knew he was being used. It was the story of his life. As a troop transport on Cybertron, he was often loaded with more mass than he was built to carry. Sometimes he arrived at the battlefront not only out of fuel but with systems so strained he could barely defend himself. He would much rather torment and destroy small groups of anarchists, alone. Their bellows of dismay and confusion when he attacked as first a rolling transport and then an airborne one were music to his audio receptors. Megatron never appreciated his true talents.

Surprisingly, Shockwave was much better to him after Megatron left. In sole control of Cybertron, Shockwave set about methodically clearing it of resistance. Neither side had enough troops left to fight large battles. Controlling the few remaining energy sources on the planet allowed the Decepticons the upper hand. Shockwave rationed their energon carefully but gave Astrotrain what they finally agreed was close to his fair share. This, in addition to letting Astrotrain enjoy what he loved most: working alone, playing two roles in every engagement, and savoring the dying screams of those he could catch on his reduced energy level. He found he could also enjoy hearing empty threats from those he was only able to chase from the planet. Perhaps that was even more efficient: on their own, the fleeing Autobots might come to appreciate the structure, the order the Decepticons represented and return, ready to comply. He forgot what it was like to be relegated to the role of carrier. He enjoyed his existence. When Autobot signals disappeared from Cybertron he took up a hobby, building spare parts and designing alternate modes for himself. Shockwave encouraged him in that additional pursuit, even commissioning odd parts from him on occasion.

Astrotrain was well-prepared when the order came to join the Earthside front. Shockwave shared the entire catalog of Earthly vehicles with him, allowing him to select his own optimal alt-modes. He carefully reformatted himself to resemble the engine of a locomotive and the crude vessel called simply a space shuttle. That was an anxious process, but he succeeded and felt very comfortable with his new forms.

When the time came to depart Cybertron for Earth, he had three mechs in his hold. He was not yet back in proper Decepticon ranks, and already being used as a transport. The situation was sufficiently novel by then that a wave of nostalgia overwhelmed any protest. Shockwave offered no details. Astrotrain calmly cooperated when Shockwave ushered them aboard at the last astrosecond. One gave the impression of being a Triple-changer, one a Seeker and the other a ground-pounder. Astrotrain was immediately interested in getting to know the possible Triple-changer and tried to start a conversation with him. All he was willing to say was that yes, he was a Triple-changer; his name was Blitzwing; and being a passenger made his systems falter, "So leave me the frag alone." Astrotrain shrugged it off. If the opportunity to meet another Triple-changer was not worth his interest, there was no reason for Astrotrain to try to talk to him. The small four-wheeled one appointed himself flight attendant and supplied the other two with whatever they wanted to keep them quiet and contained. Astrotrain monitored their activity only cursorily. He had nothing in common with the tiny one, disliked Seekers as a general rule, and had been rebuffed by the other Triple-changer. The flight was going to be long and lonely.

Blitzwing basked in the numbness of strong high grade. The Seeker was lost in a datapad. The active one, serving some private purpose of his own, set about mapping Astrotrain's interior. Astrotrain did not realize what he was up to until something gently touched the cover beneath which his core processors and spark lay.

Stifling an exclamation, Astrotrain quietly demanded to know what the mech thought he was doing. In answer, a second hand joined the first in stimulating the sensitive area. Astrotrain suppressed a shudder. He had not carried passengers in a very long time; the added oddity of being touched there, like that, was a distraction he could not afford. Constant recalculation of position and trajectory was required to determine the slight adjustments necessary to keep them on their flight path. "Stop that," he ordered.

Silently projecting reluctance, the other mech withdrew his hands and went to check on the others, handing each another round of his preferred entertainment.

He then returned to his exploration of the shuttle.

Astrotrain lost track of the wheeled one's whereabouts until he again touched something sensitive. Astrotrain told him to stop and he complied, moving on silently.

After the third time, Astrotrain tried to engage him in conversation. "You're very curious. You must be young. Can't you find another way to occupy your processors while we travel?" He had worked in isolation for so long, he was reluctant to be harsh. It was not as if the attention were unpleasant - quite the contrary, in fact - but he did not know this mech at all, and traveling at full speed along an untried course was not the circumstance in which he could enjoy it if he did.

The only answer was a pat to the nearest bulkhead.

"Is this your first time in space?"

The mech gave an affirming gesture and trailed the remarkably soft pads of his fingers down the wall.

"Do you understand why I keep telling you to stop that?"

The mech held very still, hands unmoving on the bulkhead.

Astrotrain got the impression his new acquaintance was waiting for him to explain why. He trained visual sensors on the small mech and catalogued his shape. Like Astrotrain, he had obviously already been formatted for Earth. Astrotrain recognized his chestplate as the hood of an automobile, saw doors on his thighs, the four wheels he had immediately noticed with disdain, and many lights of various shapes and colors. When he felt he had waited long enough to be sure he was not going to get an answer, he provided it himself: "You're distracting me. I can talk to you and still navigate reliably. I can't navigate reliably when you stimulate my tactile sensors like that."

The mech remained still, as if waiting to hear more.

"Can you speak?"

The mech repeated the affirmative motion.

Astrotrain cast his internal attention briefly toward the others to verify they were unaware of the conversation aft of them. "Shockwave may have told you my name is Astrotrain. He shared no information with me. What may I call you?"

The mech withdrew his hands. As if knowing there was an audio sensor near him, he vocalized at a decibel level that could not carry, "Anything you like." Then he went to check on the others, providing a new data chit for the Seeker's entertainment and harnessing the now off-line Blitzwing securely to his bench.

He resumed his silent scrutiny of Astrotrain's passenger space.

Astrotrain was unnerved as much by the mech's silence as by the near-constant, gentle attention. _Enny_, as Astrotrain started to think of him, _short for Anything-you-like,_ did not actively distract him after having it explained why he should not. Unfortunately, his mere presence filled Astrotrain's thoughts. Somehow Astrotrain kept on the required route and they arrived in Earth-space at the appointed time. They nearly burned up on entry in the outer atmosphere because he forgot to account for the variable density of it in his attitude profile. He adjusted to prevent permanent damage to his skin, and directed his passengers to prepare for landing on unknown terrain. "You too, Enny," he said softly when he noticed the mech had not moved from his latest position in the cockpit, "go strap in." He expected some sort of welcoming party. For a tick, he wished for an enemy to appear instead, so he could show off his fighting ability for his new acquaintance.

_Where did that come from? I don't care what anyone thinks!_

Blitzwing came on-line and startled a bit as if not knowing where he was. The Seeker assured him that they were nearly at their destination. Enny arrived in their vicinity and fastened a harness around himself.

Three Seekers, each outfitted as the same airplane, took up formation about him, hailing him on the secure channel Shockwave had specified he monitor. _McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle,_ he identified their camouflage. The one who called himself Starscream directed him to land on a steppe, telling him they would fly with him over the dark side of the planet.

Without incident, they landed megamiles from the nearest signs of technology. Blitzwing and the Seeker eagerly debarked and transformed to take to the air with their escort. He identified both of them as MiGs, a Foxbat and a Fulcrum. Enny lingered, in root mode. Astrotrain transformed to be bipedal, himself, and saw with some satisfaction that Enny looked impressed. Despite a significant portion of his alternate forms in subspace, Astrotrain was still a large mech, at least as big as Megatron himself but significantly more massive. He dwarfed the remaining Decepticon.

Starscream sent him a set of coordinates and condescended over the radio, -:-I'm sure you're tired from the trip. We'll leave the little flightless one to keep you company, Astrotrain.-:- They flew up and away.

He already did not like that mech.

Enny transformed. He was a very ... innocuous-looking ... automobile, mostly shiny black with white extremities and white stripes on his hood. _Not very warlike,_ Astrotrain thought, _I can't imagine any being finding that vehicle intimidating._ A logical reason for that presented itself. He asked, "Are you in recon?"

Enny did not vocalize, but the shift he performed on his suspension clearly approximated a shrug, non-committal but not a denial. He revved his engine and spun his wheels a bit, trying to encourage Astrotrain to transform and get moving.

Astrotrain looked around, not ready to go anywhere else just yet. "You have the coordinates. Go on to the base. I must recharge for a while. My levels are very low."

Enny transformed back to his biped form and gestured at the openness of the area.

"You're right, this isn't an ideal location. I'm not concerned for the locals. If Autobots will come, let them. I can fight them here as well as I ever fought them on Cybertron."

The Seeker who made the trip with them flew low overhead. When Enny looked up at him, flashing a few of his lights, the Fulcrum dipped his wing. Astrotrain regarded them curiously. Enny waved calmly to the jet, who then disappeared again in the direction the others had gone.

Astrotrain had to rest. He had internal reserves, but they were best accessed by his charge system. He decided the landing area was as good as any other in this unknown world and settled there to recharge. "I will meet you at the base," he said as he began cycling strained systems down.

When he regained alertness much later, he was surprised to see Enny standing watch over him with a blaster. The little mech smiled at him and transformed, again making 'let's go' movements in his auto-mode.

Astrotrain smiled. His systems all came back on-line and his readings were satisfactory: the warmth from the sunlight on his plating had sped some of his regenerative processes. "Yes, I'm ready to go," he said, then transformed into his locomotive form, just to show it off before returning to his shuttle mode. He opened his boarding hatch, "We'll get there faster if we fly," he offered.

The odd feeling of tires rolling over the floor of his cargo bay was surprisingly pleasant. He found he did not resent playing transport in this instance. As he took off, he spoke to his transforming passenger, "You didn't have to stay, Enny."

One of his bulkheads received a lingering pat.

-X-X-X-

They had orders to report to different locations in the base. Astrotrain departed almost immediately for his first assignment, a power plant raid in India with Thundercracker. Returning in the darkest hours of the day, Thundercracker injured himself badly in a collision with a local aircraft. It was clearly his own fault. Astrotrain had no sympathy for him. When it became clear the damage would slow them down, Astrotrain reluctantly let him ride the rest of the way back, skimming the surface of the water to appear on radar as a large watercraft. Thundercracker was able to transform in Astrotrain's hold but unexpectedly shut down from loss of fluids. This presented a problem: too large in either alt-mode, Astrotrain could only enter the base in root-mode but could not transform with someone in his bay. It would be uncomfortable for him, and likely fatal for Thundercracker, for him to try.

He almost dumped Thundercracker in the ocean. He decided it would serve him better to make the effort to find a way to save his new colleague. It would not do to return alone from his very first mission under a new command. Megatron would naturally assume he had destroyed Thundercracker to eliminate some competition. That would go badly for him. Not that any Seeker was truly his competition, but that was how it would read to any Decepticon who was not also a Triple-changer. Undoubtedly someone would have noticed he did not pretend to appreciate Seekers. He executed a risky maneuver, transformed, and caught his oblivious compatriot before he hit the water.

He expected to be met by Starscream, who assigned the raid. He was surprised when Soundwave was waiting for them in the lift. Soundwave relieved him of the spoils but flatly refused to take the damaged mech from him. "Injury minor. Repair him."

Astrotrain narrowed his optics at the familiar-seeming mech. He thought he recognized him as a particular medic from long ago, before the specialty disappeared from their ranks. He registered the unique field fluctuations that singular mech used to cause that meant his surface thoughts were being scanned. Even if he could mistake the physical form of an individual after all this time, that feeling of intrusion was singular. Aware of surveillance in the lift, he chose not to vocalize. If this were the medic he knew, he did not need to speak. _I recognize you,_ he thought with all the intensity he could, _Your other skills are needed. I can build replacement parts but you can extend life._

Soundwave answered him aloud cryptically, "Statement valid. Implementation banned. Megatron emphatic."

So that was it, that was why there was no medic in the base. Megatron would be the victim of his own success if he was too stubborn to let old habits die when their usefulness was past! Decepticons had no medical officers since early in the war when Megatron adopted the battle strategy of shooting Autobot medics first. To get them off the battlefields in case the resistance adopted a similar policy, Megatron directed Decepticon medics to cease that function and apply themselves to destruction of the enemy. Their new specialties became interrogation, problem solving, and strategy.

With the advent of permanent bases and stable Decepticon superiority, Astrotrain thought the medics should have come out of hiding. It was not as if their skills ceased to be needed, nor could all of them have been killed in the fighting. If a medic were safe anywhere, it was this base. Thundercracker's playful welcome-aboard rambling indicated they suffered more damage at each others' hands than at their enemies'.

For lack of a better idea, he hauled Thundercracker with him to his own quarters. Soundwave was right, the damage was minor. He patched it, brought Thundercracker on-line, escorted the disoriented Seeker to his proper part of the ship, and left him there just outside the lift. That was the limit of his generosity: Thundercracker could recharge in the hallway of the Seekers' level if he did not have the wherewithal to get to his berth.

_They have a level._ All the Triple-changers had was a chamber with two bunks that barely accommodated them. _How is that proper allocation of resources?_ At least Blitzwing had proven reasonable once he was no longer a passenger. The two Triple-changers agreed to cooperative recharge, each to look out for the other in case scavenging events were common here as they had been at times on Cybertron.

Randomly, he wondered what sort of provision had been made for Enny. Since riding down the lift together upon arrival, he had not seen the little mech. He wondered where his acquaintance recharged, and in what condition of safety. _What use do we really have for such as he?_ was the last thought in his CPU before shifting into recharge.

-X-X-X-

As soon as the Air Commander learned he made short work of Thundercracker's damage, Starscream accosted him and demanded to know what experience he had in that vein. Shrugging, Astrotrain explained he filled the time on Cybertron by learning to build alternate parts for himself. Starscream sneered and stalked off.

Despite Starscream's disdain, word spread quickly. Those who had been Earthside for any length of time gathered their supplies into their subspace pockets and made excuses to talk to him. He was approached as he left his quarters for the day, as he left the dispensary, any time he looked remotely approachable. Apparently each had been trying unsuccessfully to keep himself in repair, trusting only his closest associates for help, and things were falling apart. By the end of the first cycle - _week_, in the local vocabulary - he had cultivated so many favors that it appeared he would not be standing any of his duty rotations.

Starscream pulled him aside to grudgingly tell him they were making him their Chief Mechanical Officer. The requirements were that he fulfill their repair needs and participate each day in their status meeting. He would be removed from every menial duty roster to which he had been assigned and be given an entire chamber to use as a shop. Most important to him was that now he would have rank. That was something he could never have attained while considered primarily a dumb transport.

He was pleased to be in the group that met first-thing each day at 1400 hours when not out on a specific mission. It was good to know and possibly influence their actions, better to know when the next entertainment - a drill for the smaller and less-experienced mechs - would be run. Scrapper participated via video connection from the Constructicon base on the eastern continent. Soundwave led the meeting. Megatron did not appear. Astrotrain had not seen their leader once in the time he had been on Earth. That did not speak well for the Slag-Maker. Was Megatron aging badly? With no practicing medical talent aboard, nearly every Decepticon except Megatron had been to see Astrotrain already. Had Megatron degenerated somehow in all the time away from Cybertron? How he retained power over all of them without intimidating them regularly mystified Astrotrain. That would have to change, to ensure victory over the Autobots and to allow Astrotrain to realize his aspirations of rank and power. Megatron was so out of touch with their circumstance that he even refused to adapt to the simple time measurements of Earth! Soundwave, surely thinking to be recognized as second-in-command, insulated the others from their leader, meeting with Megatron on his whims but operating their base on the cycle of the rotation of the planet. Astrotrain noted how easy it was for Soundwave to keep track of everyone's activities this way. He would implement it when he had his own minions. Watching Soundwave closely, he realized what the communications officer did: he made everyone feel valued. For less than a breem - _a few minutes_ - every day, Soundwave gave each of them his undivided attention while they reported to the group. _Everybody wants to feel valuable,_ Astrotrain mused. Although he knew what Soundwave was doing, stroking his ego with body language and optical sensor contact more than words, he felt himself respond to it, every time. It was an amazing tactic. It cost Soundwave just a little time and earned him not only the information he wanted but made them eager to listen to him, in return. Even that fragger, Starscream, was not immune to it.

After another week, Enny appeared at his side as he left the conference room. Unspeaking, Enny accompanied him to the shop and proceeded to work as his assistant. After that day Enny spent nearly as much time in Astrotrain's shop as he did, silently passing him tools or supplies when he needed them, often without his asking, and occasionally showing him an alternative solution that made something function much better, or function where he could not come up with the answer himself. He was particularly helpful with anything that required software or an electronic interface. Enny even built and programmed test equipment to simulate individual portions of a Decepticon's transformation sequence to evaluate the most common complaints.

Astrotrain was fascinated by his helper. His size was almost alien to Astrotrain; the efficiency of his form a puzzle; the grace of his hands haunted Astrotrain's imagination. The memory of tires rolling over his cargo bay led him to absently brush the one on Enny's left shoulder with a fingertip one shift. Enny jerked away from him. Astrotrain nearly apologized for the familiarity. Rather than appear weak, or admit the fleeting contact was other than an accident, he did not. On another occasion there was something Astrotrain needed Enny to look at that was on the repair bench but configured in such a way that no amount of turning the mechanism would allow the little Decepticon to see it from his height. The part was in too delicate a state to pick it up and show him. Astrotrain lifted Enny bodily to sit on the bench so he could take a look at the problem. Enny swatted ineffectually at him. That time, Astrotrain did apologize: "I should have asked first." Enny's face changed from an expression of offense to one of indifference, then he made a dismissive gesture and offered a small smile. Astrotrain was forgiven.

Why that was important to him, from a Cybertronian who would not even tell him his name, Astrotrain did not evaluate.

When any other Decepticon came to visit, Enny would disappear somehow, letting Astrotrain's client feel he had a private session with the mechanic. Pride would not let him ask anyone else about Enny. It would never do for any of his potential rivals to suspect he had interest in the ground-pounder except as a flunky. As far as Astrotrain knew, he was the only one in the base with whom Enny interacted at all. Enny was too small for most of the watchbills, nearly as small as the Casseticons, but not among Soundwave's trusted few to participate in their duty cycles. From what he was learning about the Casseticons, Enny must be very good at disappearing and staying disappeared to avoid being scavenged by the little fraggers. Being about their size, he was probably full of parts they could use.

Again, Astrotrain wondered about the conditions in which Enny had to recharge. He did note that every morning near the appointed recharge time, Enny disappeared, always without Astrotrain noticing until he was gone. _Perhaps that's how he survives here._

Astrotrain suspected he was being used. Enny surely only spent time with him because their association afforded protection from harassment by the others. Strangely, this understanding did not offend him. Partisans were a true benefit of power and position. Astrotrain enjoyed his first lackey immensely, confident that someday he would have many. He could gladly allow himself to be used in that manner. Enny listened to anything he had to say, and though he never spoke, he did respond and even encourage Astrotrain to speak. Astrotrain found Enny's company necessary.

-X-X-X-

The base operated on a cycle that maximized the use of darkness to enter and leave. Nominal recharge time was the morning hours. Energon was doled out once per day, one portion each (based on rank and transformation complexity among other things) to be claimed between noon and 1400 hours. This gave them over a groon - _several hours_ - to prepare for whatever would be done in the darkness. Mechs so equipped could come and go as they pleased in the night but the tower was raised in daylight only for Megatron or someone acting on open orders. It amazed Astrotrain that such a small number of mechs was subject to such a large number of regulations on a planet teeming with energy sources.

_We are order in the chaos,_ he thought.

At the end of his first month as CMO, the daily tag-up established that no one had anything pressing to procure, drills to suggest, and no 'Anarchobot-baiting' to report from the previous night. (Skywarp coined the phrase; Astrotrain appreciated it despite its author.) Soundwave dismissed everyone except the senior Seekers and Constructicon. Astrotrain had plenty of work to do in his shop and all the supplies he currently needed, so he was not slighted by the dismissal.

Like clockwork, Enny fell in beside him as he left the conference room, ensuring the other officers saw him with the Triple-changer. He had the skill set for reconnaissance even if he would not admit it. Astrotrain never registered Enny waiting for him in the corridor until they were side-by-side, walking in comfortable silence to the shop. Taking two steps to Astrotrain's one, he never complained or appeared hurried, focused on securing inclusion in Astrotrain's presence.

He wished he had an excuse to go for a flight and take Enny with him. _On my next procurement run,_ he thought, _I can use some help._ He reviewed his memory of Enny's curious attention often. He had enjoyed physical contact in his life, but had always been the initiator, the pursuer, never the pursued. That seemingly innocent, tentative attention snared him.

He had an idea: why not implement Soundwave's technique with Enny? Not save it for attendants yet to come, use it with the one he already had, now. Perhaps building up the young mech's ego would encourage him to behave as he had while they hurtled through space, or at least talk.

Almost finished with the upgrade for Soundwave's concussion blaster, he reached for the buffer. Enny placed it in his hand, positioned precisely as needed for Astrotrain to use it immediately without fumbling or adjustment, despite the awkwardness of it in his small hands. Astrotrain made a point of noticing the action, this time. "Amazing. You hand me just the tool or part I need before I can ask for it. Are you telepathic, Enny?"

Enny offered a tiny smile and flashed his pale optics once in negation.

Astrotrain smiled back. Rather than return immediately to the task, he held Enny's gaze. Careful not to lean over the small mech, he knelt and tried to equalize them by body-language. On his knees he was still head and shoulders taller. He sat back on his heels. "You add a lot to the work I get done in a day. Yet you're never noticeable when someone's here. You'd benefit from having your skills recognized. Why do you not allow others to see you here in the shop?"

Enny shrugged and looked elsewhere. Astrotrain was pleased that he did not shy away.

He tried to think of a way to rekindle Enny's original interest, to encourage him to approach. He did not have anything to offer. Or did he? The other officers had support, why should the Chief Mechanical Officer not also? "I don't imagine very much energon is allocated to a mech your size whose work isn't obvious to Soundwave. I can fix that. I'll request a larger ration for you. I'll explain to him all the value you add."

Enny looked at him sharply, optics nearly white, they were so bright.

Astrotrain imagined that was a hopeful look on his face. "Shall I do that?"

Enny dimmed his optics briefly in agreement. He inclined his head and stepped shyly closer.

Astrotrain held very still. He wanted very much for this mech to touch him as he had when they first met, but while he was in a circumstance to enjoy it and in a form to participate and return the attention. He wanted ... to not feel like he was using this mech's talents to further his own position, to not feel he was being used by this mech as a shield to keep the predators within their base at bay. He wanted to know this mech's name. He wanted ... to feel this mech was his friend.

Enny carefully removed the tools from Astrotrain's unresisting hands.

The light, incidental touches of Enny's hands on his made him stop cycling his temperature regulation systems. The pads were as soft as he remembered.

Tools deactivated and set aside, Enny stepped even closer to Astrotrain. As if he recognized the panel - Astrotrain did not think there was any way he could even see the panel to recognize it - he placed his hands on Astrotrain's chest, on the surface perpendicular to his vertical axis, and touched the plating directly beneath which lay his processors. It was the same panel that first got Astrotrain's attention on their flight to Earth.

The caress was as compelling as he remembered. He wanted to pull Enny close to him. He refrained from doing anything forceful, choosing instead to bend farther down with his right hand on the deckplates to bring that panel into easier reach for Enny. He dropped his head and kissed the knuckles that were right there on his chest-ridge. He noted once again that Enny had only three fingers and a thumb on each diminutive hand. His fingers were elegant, particularly long in proportion to the palm: each slender digit had an extra knuckle. With his left hand he tentatively traced the stripes on Enny's chestplate, down from his left shoulder to his grill and back up to his right shoulder, careful not to press too firmly, noticing how thin the plating was.

Enny stopped what he was doing.

Astrotrain immediately ceased as well and raised his head to meet Enny's optics. He looked frightened for the first time in Astrotrain's experience of him. Astrotrain dropped his left hand to the deck, mirroring the position of his right. "I don't want to do anything you don't want. I'll make fewer mistakes with you if you talk to me."

Enny patted the expanse of dermal plating he'd been petting and dimmed his optics. At roughly half power, they passed through a disconcerting shade of blue. Enny ducked his head as if he realized that might be uncomfortable for another Decepticon to see. For answer, he crouched down and grasped each of Astrotrain's hands, slipping his fingers around them in such a way as to make it clear he meant to lift them from the floor. Astrotrain complied. Enny guided Astrotrain's hands to his midsection where his engine block and the shell of his transaxle were partially exposed beneath his grill. Astrotrain gently grasped him, hoping that was what Enny meant him to do: Enny had batted his hands away from there under other circumstances. Enny ran his hands up the length of Astrotrain's chest, ghosted those remarkable fingers over the sensitive plate on his chest-ridge, and traced along the sides of his helm. He rested them on Astrotrain's neck, teasing the cables that held his head on his body. Astrotrain groaned softly.

When he raised his optics to Astrotrain's again, they were so dim they were almost powered-down. Astrotrain could tell they were blue but purplish, not as close to Autobot blue as when Enny turned his face away. "I didn't know your optics are blue," he said huskily.

Enny dimmed them completely for a tick and smiled slowly.

Astrotrain thought the metal to which Enny had guided his hands felt significantly stronger than that of the shoulder on which he initially placed his hand. He was still uncertain what to do for such a small being. He mimicked the motion of Enny's hands on his neck with his fingers on Enny's waist. The vibration that seemed to evoke from his engine was encouraging.

Enny exerted pressure on the back of Astrotrain's neck, and Astrotrain took that for an invitation to lean forward. The partial battle mask that shielded Enny's mouth rotated up and out of the way allowing them to kiss.

Astrotrain tried to notice everything about that moment. His lip components were warm and smooth as glass. His engine was hot and the vibration from it was pleasantly strong as it transferred up Astrotrain's arms. His mouth and jaw were proportionate to the rest of him, smaller than any in Astrotrain's previous experience. Where Astrotrain made extensive use of subspace, Enny obviously did not. He actively used every part in both modes. It made Astrotrain nervous to think of it, but the ratio of Enny's mass to his was nearly as drastic as the ratio of his mass to the one who once forced him into intimacy, the Guardian-sized femme he pursued until she caught him. She used him for her own purposes and threw him aside, not even allowing him the release of an energy flare. He would not do that to another, not her, _Not even a captive Anarchobot._ That thought unnerved him, recalling the instant when Enny's optics passed through Autobot blue. He broke the kiss and dropped his hands from the tiny mech, palms back on the floor, gaze studiously cast to the wall.

_It's not like I'm making him do this,_ he thought, _I gave him a chance to start something and he took it._ He cycled his thermal systems, trying to reclaim his calm, the enjoyment of the moment.

The voice he had only heard once before asked, "What's wrong?" The decibel level was low but the impact was greater than any shout Astrotrain had ever heard. The long, delicate fingers caressed his shoulders. In his peripheral vision he could see a concerned look on the minimalist faceplates. Even Enny's head was only plated as much as absolutely necessary. Lines for power, data, and all manner of fluid were clearly visible and mostly frighteningly identifiable.

As his systems responded to Enny, Astrotrain was struck once again by how fragile his body was. Comparisons aside, fragile body equated to fragile hold on life. He moved his head to look Enny in the eye. "I fear I will injure you by accident. Your plating is very thin and widely spaced. Much of each necessary system is exposed. I might-"

Enny cut him off by stepping into him so that their chestplates touched. It carried the purr of his engine perfectly into Astrotrain's body. He pulled himself forcefully into the large mech so that the curve of his chest flexed against the flat expanse of Astrotrain's. Astrotrain gasped in horror, thinking Enny was damaging himself to make some point. Enny leaned back on his heels and Astrotrain looked down to see the dent. There was no new mark to show for it, the chest plate had popped back into shape. Enny rocked forward and his plating flexed again, allowing their disparate forms more surface area in contact. "There are limits," he said very close to Astrotrain's face, "but I'm not frail."

Astrotrain lost track of who initiated what. They kissed, lip components moving over every bit of facial plating they could reach. Enny worked his hands all the way under Astrotrain's chest plating, going straight for his processors and spark chamber; Astrotrain allowed it. Astrotrain worked his fingers all the way around Enny's engine block, grew tired of crouching on the floor and lifted the tiny mech onto his work bench; Enny allowed it. Enny wrapped his legs around Astrotrain's abdomen, bringing the very edge of his manifold into direct contact with Astrotrain. That changed the angle of their bodies so that Astrotrain could mouth Enny's neck, hungrily claiming each sensor and module there with his lips and glossa. Enny moaned. Astrotrain felt accomplished, having wrung an unintentional vocalization from him. Enny's motor revved faster. Astrotrain felt every cycle of it. Electricity crackled out from the big mech's core, over his plating, and through the one who caused it. They trembled together, approaching overload.

The door to the shop opened and someone - surely one of his clients, maybe even Soundwave looking for the upgrade for his weapon - walked in on them. Enny stiffened but made no move to disengage, staring over Astrotrain's wing toward the doorway. Astrotrain did not turn around to see who it was, choosing instead to rest his forehead on Enny's shoulder. "Leave us!" he said with all the threat he could muster.

Nearly simultaneously, the intruder drew air sharply through constricted intakes. "Cobweb!" he exclaimed, turned efficiently and stomped out. The door closed. Astrotrain did not try to place the voice.

They held their positions as if each had forgotten what he was doing. It was several processor cycles later that Astrotrain made the connection. He tried the syllables out, "Cob Web. That is your name," he breathed, and resumed his exploration of Enny's neck joint.

Enny - _Cobweb_ - was straining to give Astrotrain as much access to his neck as possible. Astrotrain nibbled at a cable under tension, then said, "Relax. We have all night." It seemed to be the right thing to say: he was rewarded by another lusty, appreciative sound. Enny found Astrotrain's spark casing and stroked it. Astrotrain felt the texture of Enny's fingerpads, warm and silken, at the core of his being. Enny gently wrapped his hand around Astrotrain's spark chamber. The vibration of his engine carried through his fingers to it, into Astrotrain's spark.

In his primary audio sensor, Enny whispered his name: "Astro Train."

The shock of hearing his name from that seldom-used vocalizer sent every one of the Triple-changer's systems past their upper limits. He vocalized the only thing in his CPU: "En-ny-" Current arced from him to his paramour, to the table and the deckplates. Enny's systems red-lined; heat poured from him. Light and ozone filled the room.

Astrotrain's gyros failed and he fell back, pulling Enny with him. He sat heavily on the deck, retaining enough capability to prevent him over-compensating and falling forward: if that happened, he might crush Enny. He was able to lean carefully back against the staging table that took up the middle of the room. "Next time, remind me to secure the door." He laughed softly, "And stay on the deck." No response. "Enny?" he asked, instantly concerned. He maneuvered Enny so he could see his face.

Enny was off-line. Astrotrain could feel every cycle of Enny's systems, winding down from overcharge with no sign of damage. He was relieved. The fingers coiled delicately around Astrotrain's spark chamber twitched.

That was too much stimulation for one breem. His processors powered down in self-defense as another wave of radiation rocked him.

-X-X-X-

When he returned to conscious function, Astrotrain was sprawled on the floor of his shop between the work bench and the staging table. For a few ticks, he did not understand why he was there. Then he remembered. _He touched me precisely as I was wanting._ He suppressed a shudder. _His official designation is 'Cobweb'._ He smirked at the supposition that someone was jealous of his luck. _He caused a spark-flickering flare._ He did shudder; it rippled pleasantly through each of his systems.

His logic protocol asserted itself. _I let him find my spark chamber,_ he thought, abashed. _I can't allow him that power over me._ He started to get up.

The door cycled open and shut. He saw that it was Enny, locking the door behind him. He settled for sitting up. "Well," he said, trying to assess the situation.

Enny came around the table and stopped in front of him, within Astrotrain's reach but outside his own.

Astrotrain waited. _Frag it!_ he thought, feeling all his systems speed back up with Enny so close again. _I wanted that. I will let him do that again. I want him to do that again._ He dropped his head but kept his optics on Enny's face. _I'm lost._

Enny finally met his gaze. He truly had the minimum necessary facial structure; Astrotrain thought he was silently asking for welcome, for forgiveness. Astrotrain did not know why.

He gave it, holding his arms out, careful not to touch without clear permission.

Enny gave it, stepping forward to be wrapped in an embrace that engulfed him. He seemed to shrink into Astrotrain's lap, leaning heavily into the broad chest.

A long moment later, Astrotrain spoke. "We need to finish Soundwave's upgrade today. After that, I'll deliver it to him and make that request for your increased energon."

Enny trembled against him but made no conscious move or sound.

"Do you appear in the roster as Cobweb?"

Enny buried his face in his hands as he curled into a lump of despondent mechanoid and made a tiny gesture of affirmation.

Unable to fathom who was using whom in this scenario - Enny was making him feel powerful and necessary where he found he aspired to make Enny feel accepted and valued - he contented himself to stay like that for as long as needed. He cherished the sensation of every bit of contact, even if they were incidental to what he was doing for Enny in that instance.

_Who has power over whom?_

Astrotrain didn't know.

Maybe that meant they had achieved friendship, a partnership of sorts. Astrotrain realized he had stopped keeping track of all the benefits he gained from time spent together as well as all the things he imagined he knew Enny gained from it.

Enny seemed to be calming down. He did not lift his head from his hands but relaxed against Astrotrain.

Astrotrain decided to test his theory. He said, "I am your friend." Enny stopped cycling air. "I want you here." Enny raised his head to look up at Astrotrain, resting his hands lightly against Astrotrain's chestplate. "Tell me what I should call you: Cobweb, Enny, Assistant, Partner?"

He was rewarded with a faint smile and a fleeting look from white-blue optics. "Anything you like."


	2. Something About You

Title: _Something About You_

Universe: loosely G1 cartoon. Sequel to _Anything You Like_. Also follows the events of _Skimming the Surface_ and _Break from Habit_.

Rated: NC-17 for detailed physical intimacy between mechanical beings, including plug-n-play, and a graphic description of what amounts to child abuse, past. GRAPHIC.

Pairing: Astrotrain/Cobweb.

Author's Notes: Only Cobweb (nicknamed 'Enny') and his missing friend are my creations, all else belong to corporations. Cobweb ... Oh Sweet Primus! Astrotrain figured some things out about Cobweb, things I did not know before, and then I was graced with Cobweb's own point-of-view. Brace yourself. It took me a few days to adjust to what Cobweb had to say. Among other things, I would have sworn that I would never write a rape. As far as I know, I am the originator of the term "meiotronic ratio". 8700 words, not including the footnote.

* * *

Astrotrain stopped thinking about being used. It was a liberating feeling, to not contemplate who benefited most from a given exchange. 

He realized that where Enny had occupied his thoughts regularly since the trip from Cybertron, he thought almost obsessively on him since having his daydream fulfilled two work-cycles - _days_ - ago. Enny even haunted his recharge since, scenarios where an unconscious Enny was mostly disassembled by scavengers nagged at him. Worse, last night, toward the end of their work-shift, something had upset Enny. Astrotrain noted the sudden distress but saw nothing physical befall him and found nothing in their one-sided conversation that could possibly be controversial. He was trying to formulate how to ask what was troubling his assistant when Enny disappeared. It was normal for him to do so as the morning hours brought the assigned recharge time. Enny slipped away, presumably to his assigned quarters or some safe alternative. As he closed the shop and headed to the quarters he shared with Blitzwing, Astrotrain realized he was hesitant to ask because he was afraid that Enny's distress was somehow connected to their recent activity.

Today, Astrotrain was distracted during the daily tag-up, worrying that Enny would not meet him. He was relieved when Enny fell in beside him as normal when he left the meeting. He smiled to himself and looked down at Enny askance as they walked. Enny's gait was off, taking closer to three steps than two to each of Astrotrain's this time; he slowed his pace to allow the small mech to keep up with less difficulty. As soon as the door to the shop cycled shut behind them, Enny sank to the floor, resting his back against the wall beside the portal. Astrotrain was immediately attentive. He knelt beside his friend. "What's wrong?"

Enny did not speak but gestured to one of his legs. It took very little inspection to tell a stabilization strut was missing completely from his lower leg, not cut from him but disassembled. Enny looked pained.

Astrotrain met his friend's optics: "Casseticons."

His answer was a non-committal gesture and dimming of optics. Enny leaned back against the wall and let his optics dim completely.

Astrotrain wondered how Enny had managed to avoid this situation for so many weeks. From what he had heard, even large mechs were not safe from the little sneaks; it was allowed because Soundwave wanted to ensure vigilance. He and Blitzwing looked out for each other, recharging by turns in their assigned quarters. He was still curious who looked out for Enny. _I would gladly,_ flashed through his CPU, full realization of why he wondered so often about the conditions in which Enny spent the daily recharge period. He still did not ask. "This isn't hard to fix. It won't even take a groon, maybe only a couple of 'hours'." Trying to get used to the local vocabulary, he used the Mandarin word. Enny did not seem to notice this time; usually he would 'roll his eyes' (dim one optic then the other, quickly) at him and they'd both laugh at the strangeness of using organic speech patterns. Concerned that Enny was too uncomfortable to respond like that, Astrotrain set about finding materials from which to fabricate the part. "The problem is copying the sensor array. I may have to take the other one apart to make them match."

No answer. Astrotrain glanced at Enny when he found a dowel of suitable diameter, "This'll be faster. I won't have to put it on the lathe." Enny tried to stand and resorted to scraping up the wall; it sounded painful to Astrotrain's audios. He set the dowel down and took the two steps back to where Enny sat. He reached out to the tiny mech. "Allow me," he offered in courtesy before setting his hands on Enny's waist and lifting him gently to the staging table in the center of the room. Enny looked disturbed. Astrotrain was struck with the memory of what they had done, the night before last. His energon flowed a little faster. He rested his hands on the table on either side of Enny. Rather than continue to tower over him - the table was enough lower than the work bench to be inconvenient for interaction - Astrotrain knelt and looked up at him. "Don't worry that every time I touch you I mean to ... touch, like the day before yesterday." The nearly white optics and minimal facial structure gave away nothing. Astrotrain continued, wanting to be clear, wanting to understand and be understood. "I didn't expect you to touch my spark, but you sought it. I would let you do it again." Pause. "I will let you do it again if you wish." He paused again and lowered his head, looking up at Enny's face from beneath his optic ridge. More quietly, he continued, "I may ask you to do it again." He forced the systems to cool down that had sped up in response to that train of thought. He lowered his optics, no longer able to look at the impassive expression. He continued, "Only if you want. Enny, you were off-line after your systems overloaded, then you were unhappy when you came back to me. Again, this morning, something made you sad right before you left for your quarters. Tell me why. If our interface upset you, tell me so I know to not seek it again." He found he could not raise his eyes back to his friend's. _Primus, don't let that be the problem!_ He off-lined his optics and waited, _I'm lost. All those vorns with no enemies and no friends ruined me._

Small hands touched the sides of his face and exerted pressure indicating he should move to look at Enny. He complied, feeling suddenly as helpless in the hands of this tiny one as he had in those of the ex-Guardian. A shudder passed his frame. He powered his optics and met Enny's gaze. Enny rested their foreheads together, an old gesture of intimacy, one that Astrotrain thought passed out of use long ago. Enny caressed the sides of his face. "Lock the door," he said in such a low volume Astrotrain would have thought he imagined it had Enny not dropped his hands to his shoulders to shove him a little when he didn't move soon enough.

"Anything," he said as he stood up to comply. When he returned, Enny held his arms out to Astrotrain, mirroring the situation two days ago when he returned to be wrapped in Astrotrain's embrace. Astrotrain knelt before Enny and rested his head against the tiny black and white chest. Enny wrapped his arms around Astrotrain's helmet. Astrotrain placed his forearms on the table on either side of Enny, holding him loosely, hands on his hip joints.

"I've not the energy." That statement rivaled the largest number of syllables Enny had ever said in his presence. Something about his voice pulled at Astrotrain's memory, but the rareness of hearing it out-weighed any other factor. Enny massaged Astrotrain's neck and brushed his cheek against the ridge of the purple helmet, battle mask rotated up out of the way. Astrotrain triggered his auto-record function, wanting to be able to replay Enny's speech for himself later. "You make me glad to live. Even in this frame." He moved his hands back to the sides of Astrotrain's face and moved to pull the big mech to sit up and look at him.

Astrotrain felt certain of his systems try to speed up again as he raised his head and realized he wanted very badly for Enny to kiss him at least. He knew he had work to do, including the repair for Enny, but Enny had just told him something he desperately wanted to know: their interface was not what had upset him. Astrotrain looked up into the bright optics.

Enny did kiss him, but on his brow. Then he continued. "My friend-" he used a strange word that Astrotrain took to mean 'friend', then corrected himself, "my roommate wanted to tell me he was leaving with Starscream on a mission. He walked in on us. He didn't understand what he saw. We had words. He hasn't returned." He gestured to his damaged leg. "Yesterday I didn't recharge. It was difficult, after...," he allowed his optics to twinkle, reassuring Astrotrain. "This morning I had to rest. I added a second layer of security to the entry codes and energized the door." He sighed, "They broke the code. I don't know how else to bar them. I missed today's energon dispensation."

Processor racing, Astrotrain's systems started cycling down on their own. He had some mental adjustments to make. Enny used an old gesture, said something about 'this frame' as opposed to some other he had owned, and now used vocabulary long extinct: he used a specific word for 'friend' that implied 'protégé' and 'investment' and 'creation'. There was something else about his word-choice; Astrotrain thought it was significant. _Why is that no longer used?_ he searched his databanks cursorily. _New body, ancient spark._ The thought fascinated Astrotrain, another mystery to mull over, as Enny's real name had been.

_Get it together!_ Astrotrain mentally shook himself. Enny's expression seemed expectant, as if he were anxious, waiting for a response. Hopeful. Astrotrain hugged him. "Blitzwing and I don't have a lot of room, but you're welcome to recharge with us."

Enny looked as happy as Astrotrain had ever seen him, smile subtle but expression warm and pleased.

He was suddenly excruciatingly self-conscious, wondering if he'd done anything in their time together that would have translated differently in times past. He looked away. "He will accept you for my sake. Or you can stay here if you want. We can set the codes so that if anyone even tries to get in while you're alone it alarms everybody in the base. Or, just me and Blitzwing." Astrotrain looked back at his friend. "Or we can all recharge here. He's really not a bad roommate, he's just not social. He wasn't-"

Enny stopped his nervous vocalization by the simple expedient of kissing his mouth.

Astrotrain powered off his optics. _Primus! He knows how to own me!_

They moved together. Size somehow not a factor, Enny completely directed their movements. Astrotrain traced every strut and joint in Enny's thighs and back while Enny found sensitive seams in Astrotrain's upper arms. He broke the steadily intensifying kiss, systems audibly straining from lack of energon. Astrotrain rested his head against Enny's chest. "I don't have the energy. Primus," Enny breathed, "I want to." He stroked the hinges of Astrotrain's airfoil that stuck up on either shoulder. "Blitzwing won't mind?"

The big mech groaned, optics still powered-down, face pressed into the striped chestplate. "Blitzwing will cooperate or find another place to sleep," he managed. _What part of what you're doing to me is supposed to let me wind down and get to work?_ he thought, enjoying the touches on the transformation gears in his shoulders despite Enny telling him he was too low on energy. His logic protocol served him well in that moment: "I have recharged normally and taken in enough energon. I trusted you with my spark, I can trust you with my processors. Let me plug into you." _I'm doing this all backwards,_ some distant part of his CPU provided, main attention consumed by Enny, _first letting you touch my spark, now offering to plug in. Next we'll actually have a getting-acquainted conversation!_

Enny seemed to think about that for a few ticks. His hands stilled on Astrotrain's shoulders, fingers resting in one place long enough for Astrotrain to notice their temperature was too low, another obvious sign of fuel depletion. Back to his non-verbal ways, Enny slid open the cover of his interface housing.

Recognizing the sound and where it came from, Astrotrain's power regulator faltered. He raised his head and was met immediately by Enny in a processor-scrambling kiss. Optics still off, he gathered Enny tightly to him and sat on the floor with his back to the work bench, shifting Enny to his lap. Never breaking the kiss as their position shifted, he eagerly guided Enny's right hand to his interface port as he slid it open.

Enny felt gingerly around the area, soft fingerpads tracing the orifice and teasing the cable coiled inside.

Astrotrain thought he might overheat from that, and the way Enny was kissing him. He had to break for an astrosecond. "Primus, Enny!"

Enny overwhelmed Astrotrain: right hand expertly unwinding his interface cable, left hand stimulating every sensor between his dermal plating and his spark core, lips and glossa playing arousingly along the seams in the plating of his neck. Enny rested against Astrotrain's chest, hands on their inexorable missions.

"What-" Astrotrain's vocalization hitched as Enny again found his spark chamber. His perception was already shrunk to the trembling body on his lap. He repositioned Enny's legs as he spoke, remembering that they both seemed to enjoy having the exposed edge of Enny's motor housing in contact with his plating. His hands on Enny's hips, thumbs tracing the edge of his engine block, he asked, "What can I do for you? To please you, Enny?"

As Enny drew the cable toward him to connect to the jack in his interface port, he thought about it. "Spark c-" he started, faltered, resumed again, "Sp- Engine. Touch-!" He could not complete the thought, but he completed the connection.

Trying to move, feeling as if he were moving in slow-motion, Astrotrain felt displaced. He sent energy to Enny through the connection and Enny shared the feeling of the receipt of it, life flowing between them. It was intoxicating. He touched Enny's engine purposefully and felt the vibration in his fingers; Enny sent him the pleasurable feel of that solid grasp on his body. Enny was accessing his processor, sending a data stream since vocalization had failed him. _Spark Core,_ flitted through Astrotrain's CPU, not his own data, _My motor is also my spark chamber._

Astrotrain vocalized and Enny let him hear it as he did: "No wonder you batted my hands away that time."

_Yes,_ Enny sent to him. Enny's tiny hands were still moving: left tapping lightly on his spark casing deep in his chest, right now caressing the interface cable, squeezing and coiling and-

"En-ny," Astrotrain vocalized. Enny shared sensory input freely with him, and let him know he was reading the stimulus from Astrotrain as he perceived it, too. They felt the revolutions of Enny's engine in Astrotrain's hands on the motor, and in the motor itself, Enny's spark core. They felt the vibration pass into Astrotrain's spark chamber, and in the oddly-made hand grasping it. They felt current flowing in Astrotrain's interface cable, and received as a charging field by Enny's power system. They reveled in the exciting-frightening-flaunting feeling of his large hands around Enny's spark chamber and the grounding, receptive feeling of his cool, responsive plating against Enny's manifold and the sensitive inside of his thigh-guards. Enny's systems were already red-lining, and knowing that was the limit for Astrotrain, "Enny, oh Primus! Enny you'll-! You havta-! Primus! Enny!"

Radiation emanated from Astrotrain in waves. More energy flowed to Enny over the connection and he was overwhelmed by it, passing to Astrotrain every bit of sensory input he had. Light pulsed from them. Enny's engine screamed; his legs wrapped Astrotrain's midsection, holding their bodies together as Astrotrain's grip weakened.

Astrotrain slumped back against the bench, cooling system straining. His lover rested against him, temporarily fully exhausted, power system needing time to convert the influx and put it to use. He slowly extricated his hand from inside the broad chest and Astrotrain's hands from around his engine, letting them rest on the armor of his thighs. Astrotrain was reeling: until Enny unplugged him, he was in control of the Triple-changer's conscious functions if he chose to be. Enny held on with his own hands and smoothly directed Astrotrain's body to move, to lay down flat on his back on the floor. Then Enny settled on the side of his body where his interface port was located, lying gingerly on his wing, aware of every sensation the movement caused Astrotrain and consciously sharing that awareness with him.

Even in the haze of overload, Astrotrain registered the foreign data that passed his CPU. He had just enough control left to raise his head and smile as Enny carefully disconnected his cable from the jack and coiled it back in his interface port. "You don't have to-"

Enny quieted him with a delicate fingertip to his upper lip. Their covers slid into place. They basked in the warmth of what they had done.

Within a breem, Astrotrain recovered himself having spent very little energy in the encounter. He looked down at his lover. Enny rested lightly on his left wing, tucked up against his side with one tiny hand possessively wrapped around a strut in Astrotrain's shoulder. He was deep in recharge.

_We need to have that conversation,_ Astrotrain thought. _You are not what you seem. You are older than your shell; are you older than me? You have more to say than you do; what are you not telling me? You require more energy than you're allocated; is your spark greater than mine? You use more of the catalyst than you should; what are you trying to forget?_ He traced the backs of Enny's legs with his left hand, careful not to crush Enny's fingers as his shoulder shifted. _You spend every work-shift here although you were not assigned to do so; what are you avoiding? If someone were looking for you, he would have found you by now. __What__ are you not telling me? You told me you have a friend/protégé/creation. You told me he is the one who interrupted us. You told me you were upset when you returned because you two argued before he left on a mission with Starscream. How do you have a Seeker for a friend? For a roommate, no less? You told me he has not returned to guard your recharge. You told me you tried to protect yourself this morning and failed. You did not tell me why you were visibly pained before you left the shop for recharge today. What are you not telling me?_ Trailing his hand back up over the doors positioned as thigh-guards, he let it rest on the edge of Enny's extremely hot manifold. The temperature of it was notably higher than Astrotrain's own core. _You used a word closer to 'child' than 'friend'! It's an old word, but...no! You didn't mean-?_ He almost wanted to shake Enny awake to ask, at least to hear that seldom-used vocalizer, now that he'd thought about what to listen for. He replayed in his processors what he'd purposefully recorded Enny saying, from _I've not the energy,_ to _I missed today's energon dispensation._ Listening more to the voice than the words was difficult, especially his favorite part, _You make me glad to live._ But the more he picked at it, the more he processed and cross-referenced looking for use of that particular word for 'child' that was related to the word for 'friend', the more certain he became: _You're a femme._

Breems later, Astrotrain decided Enny needed a full recharge period. He (she?) was exhausted and required additional time to process and distribute the energy Astrotrain gave while they were connected. He was down a few percent; he hoped it was enough to make a significant difference for the little transformer pressed to his side. Carefully, he disengaged the disproportionately long fingers from his left shoulder with his right hand and tenderly lifted the small frame so he could stand up there at the back of his shop. Holding Enny against his chest with his left arm, he cleared space on one end of his staging table and laid Enny down there, lamenting he could not offer a proper recharge platform with temperature regulation. _This will have to do for now,_ he thought. _How lucky would I have to be?_ he mused, looking down at his friend, _I haven't even heard of a femme in vorns. How lucky would I have to be to not only meet one who is not an Autobot but have her show up in my passenger compartment? Never mind the chances of her taking any interest in me!_ He shook his head, and got to work on the replacement strut for Enny's right leg. _I have to thank Shockwave for guiding you aboard._

-X-X-X-

Cobweb came aware out of the clearest recharge she remembered having. For a processor cycle, she wondered what was wrong with their platform, and was about to ask Starrunner if the regulator had shorted out again when the rest of her processors came on-line and her immediate cache was open to her. _Astrotrain,_ Cobweb could not believe her luck. _Primus, it's about time you let something go right for me again!_ she thought. She had not only secured herself a productive position in the garrison, but had one of the largest mechs in the Decepticon ranks - a Triple-changer, even! - ready to hand her his spark. Her energy levels were higher than since... she didn't want to think about that. _Ninety-five percent,_ she mused, _he maxed my charger out. He shared energy with me even though I didn't ask him to._ She rested, leaving her optics off for another tick to listen to Astrotrain at work. It sounded like he was pulling wire. She turned her head to the sound and powered her optics. There he stood at the work bench, his back to her on the staging table. _You placed me up here when I didn't wake,_ she thought. _You care._ She appreciated his height and the breadth of his wings as he worked.

Her spark still pained her, reminding her of how it came to be split. She wondered if it always would. It was worse now than it had been early that morning, when she felt her creation's fear. At least whatever threatened his life had passed quickly. _He's still sparked,_ she thought with relief. _This time it isn't because of him,_ she quietly accessed her automotive glove box, getting out the dispenser of catalyst she kept there, _so why does it hurt now?_ She silently connected the injector nozzle with an inlet under the edge of the armor of her chest. _Just a bit, to take the edge off,_ she told herself, smoothly taking a large dose, the amount she used on the rare occasions she was allowed a good ration of energon. She hoped it would be enough.

Astrotrain must have heard her movement, he paused and straightened up. He turned slowly from his task toward her; she quickly put the chemical container away. "Thank you," she vocalized, covering the sound of the latch closing.

As if he understood her original line of thought, he said, "You were exhausted," as he came to look at her. "How is your energon level now?" He looked thoughtful, as if there was more going on in his processors than normal.

She took the question at face value. "High." She said, and sat up, thinking to slip off the table and get to work, hoping he really hadn't noticed what she had done. The catalyst hit her systems and she felt the distance return. It didn't so much dull the pain as it made her care less, both for herself and for the missing part of her spark.

He prevented her by stepping over to where she sat. He knelt as he had earlier, arms resting on the table, loosely around her. "We have to talk," he said firmly. Cobweb was afraid he was finally going to say something about the catalyst. She was relieved when he didn't: "We've gone about this all backward, Enny. Cobweb," he said, expression questioning. "There is more I don't know about you than I do. You come here every day with me. We work together. I talk, you listen and encourage, but you tell me nothing. Even when we interface, you tell me nothing." She met his searching optics. "You know as much as you want to, more than that, about me: past, present, future ambitions. You never even told me your name! I had to hear it from your chi-ild."

He stumbled on the last word, the one she used for her roommate; it came awkwardly from his vocalizer. She scooted closer to the edge of the table, closer to him, and rested their foreheads together in the most intimate gesture she knew. She wanted to reassure him. "My name... 'Cobweb' is not mine. You gave me 'Enny'." Optic-to-optic with him, she was unsure what he wanted, and certain he would not be happy to know what she could tell him clearly. She hedged, "There is nothing to know."

Put on the spot, Astrotrain did what he was best at: frontal assault. He leaned back, looking at Cobweb from roughly her own arms' reach. "What's your name, the one you claim, without me giving it to you? Where are you from? Who's your creator? What's your primary function, by design? What drew you here?" He paused, coming to the more difficult questions, the things that were most important to him. He dropped the volume of his vocalizer several decibels. "What drew you to me? What is your relationship, really, to the one who is missing? I'm not familiar with the word you chose for him. What is the relationship you want, with me? What is your...status?"

_I knew you'd get to this eventually,_ Cobweb thought, _How much do I tell you?_ His unfamiliarity with that word for 'child' was perplexing - she did not want to have to explain it. She wished she had thought better of it before using it: it specified the speaker's role as primary spark-giver of the identified bot. His willingness to admit he did not understand the vocabulary was unexpected: most Decepticons would start a fight rather than admit a Cybertronian word escaped them. She turned her head to look away when he got to his last two questions. They sat in silence for a few processor cycles, only the sounds of the base and their own systems in the room. She met Astrotrain's optics shyly. "Status? I'm ... yours. Your ... partner, by function if not by assignment."

Astrotrain was looking at her expectantly, and lifted his right arm from the table to rest his hand, palm-up, in her lap. "I'll listen," he said, and Cobweb thought he looked receptive.

Cobweb placed her right hand in his, and watched as he closed his fingers around her entire hand, protectively, not putting enough pressure on her hand to flex the metal but offering firm contact. It seemed to be a gesture of acceptance. She could not help but imagine that huge hand, part of that immensely strong frame, crushing her, tearing her apart. _Would I welcome that?_ "Cobweb, in this frame. I have not discovered my true one yet," she lied, not ready to share that unproven memory with anyone. _Who would believe I was Comettracker, anyway?_ she thought, giving him the slow smile that usually served to encourage him to speak.

Astrotrain matched her smile. She thought he was satisfied with her answer. He lifted his left hand to the back of her head and pulled her closer as he leaned forward to kiss her chastely. Then, he looked into her optics from that close and said, "Tell me the rest." He gingerly rested their foreheads together, adopting that gesture of hers. "What do you mean by 'child'? It will not hurt me to know he is your lover, that you have taken me in addition to him. I- Your spark-" he paused and looked down at their clasped hands, increasing the pressure minutely.

Cobweb was not interested in letting him pursue that line of thought. She brought her left hand up to caress the side of his helmet slowly, ending up grasping one of the sturdy cables that held his head on his body. "If I answer those questions, you will be the only one on Earth, besides me, who knows. Will you keep it that way?"

"Enny," he said, looking back up to her optics, "of course. You already have me. Let me know you."

She wished to Primus she didn't have to rely on Astrotrain so heavily. Now that Starrunner was missing, she could not afford to lose his interest. If he wanted answers, she felt she had to give them. She looked away, counting the scratches on the work table over Astrotrain's shoulder. _Why do you care? Why do I care? What if I tell you? What if I don't? You could destroy me. Would you? That might be easier._

"We have work to do," Astrotrain said, and she hoped he was letting her off the hook, "and you are in no condition to help me right now." He released her right hand and wrapped her in his arms briefly - an embrace she returned desperately - before letting go and standing up to look down at her, still sitting on the table. "I'll work, you talk." No, he had no intention of letting her get away without answering his questions, things he felt he should know, "I'll try not to interrupt you."

She felt the effect of the catalyst pass; the pain returned to the forefront of her consciousness. She didn't think it wise to blatantly take more while Astrotrain was watching.

-X-X-X-

Astrotrain thought he was being as magnanimous as anyone could want, even Enny. She - he was certain of that now, despite her avoidance of what he thought was an obvious question - was fascinating. He'd be a fool to turn down her attention just because she had some other lover. _Even if he is a Seeker,_ he thought, _I wouldn't turn you away because of it. I bet he's the one who came from Cybertron with us, who flew over us and dipped his wing. What's his name?_ He resumed pulling sensor wire, standing perpendicular to the workbench and the staging table where Enny sat so he could work on her new stabilization strut and still make optic contact with her encouragingly. She shifted uncomfortably and Astrotrain thought she looked pained. "What's wrong?" he asked. After a breem of silence, Enny started talking, as requested.

Nothing she reluctantly told him concerned him for her sake, or for his own. "I'm from Shockwave's installation on Cybertron." He knew that. "My spark was obtained from Vector Sigma by Delta Horizon." He didn't recognize that name, but took it to mean she was significantly older than her current shell: no one had been to Vector Sigma in vorns because no one knew where to look. "This form was built mostly to test a-" she stopped, restarted, "-to test my Creator's theories on efficiency. He sent me here to fill a requisition from Soundwave for a reconnaissance agent." Her camouflage was a Mini Cooper, a small sporty car with a cult following even though it was not particularly powerful or particularly fast or particularly anything. It was available in one form or another in most developed countries and would allow her to blend in by being 'cute'. She disdained that adjective, he could hear it as she uttered it. Starrunner, she explained with fondness in her tone, was the other requisition built by Shockwave, for Starscream. He was the black mech who came with them from Cybertron with the MiG-29 Fulcrum for his alt mode, the most common fighter jet on the planet. He was her roommate here, her only friend before Astrotrain. "Never my lover," she said with distaste, "he is missing since that outing with Starscream." The others had returned, but Enny couldn't ask them about him: it would draw their attention to her and the fact that she was not a Seeker but lived in their level. She assumed - rightly, by Astrotrain's estimation - that if they were reminded that Starrunner was not using the room he and Enny shared, they would kick her out without a second thought.

_Starrunner might be all right, if Starscream and the other Seekers don't like him,_ he thought. As he worked to make the new strut mirror the one he had expertly removed from her while she recharged, he wondered how anyone could miss the novelty of her vocalizer. Femmes had a distinctly different sound than mechs. Mostly, Astrotrain found he felt relief that the missing one was not Enny's lover. He hated the thought of competing for affection, convinced he could never compare favorably to a younger, smaller mech. He wondered at the tone with which she denied having anything physical to do with Starrunner, but refrained from asking.

Enny talked far longer than Astrotrain expected. She shook slightly; he thought the catalyst she took must not have been enough to affect all the energon her body was creating from his donation. He realized her characteristic quiet was at least partially chemically induced. She haltingly told him that Shockwave, the creator of her current form, forced her spark chamber open once, mingling someone else's spark with hers. He split off a large portion of hers with that other's to create Starrunner's spark. She faltered and restarted several times. Astrotrain thought she indirectly confirmed that she was a femme: no two mechs could possibly give enough energy to spark even one as big as Enny, let alone Starrunner. Astrotrain noticed that she was crying discreetly, coolant flowing out around her optics and down her plating to run back beneath it where there was a gap. _Your plating, the seams that aren't there, that's one of Shockwave's experiments in efficiency,_ he thought.

As she spoke, he stopped what he was doing to turn fully to her. She seemed to be talking a stream-of-consciousness, no emotion in her vocalization, eyes focused far away. Tears around her optics and on her minimal faceplates were the only indication that she felt anything, that she was recounting an event that actually happened to her. He wanted to touch her, to offer as much comfort and support as he could.

-X-X-X-

Cobweb explained that Starrunner was her roommate, her only friend. "Never my lover. He is missing since that outing with Starscream." She hated Starscream: "I don't dare ask him where Starrunner is, even though I'm sure he knows. The only reason I still have access to our room is because he's forgotten that he gave it. If I draw attention to myself he'll have Skywarp and Thundercracker evict me from that storage room whether or not I have anywhere else to go."

"Starscream." No where to go with that until she explained more. "Shockwave." _Shockwave,_ she thought. She lost track of her vocalizer, thinking aloud.

_Cobweb followed her Creator's every word. She did what He directed when He directed, shadowing Him when she was not carrying out an order outside of His presence. As far as she was concerned, the stars shone because of Shockwave; they reflected off His purple plating only because He willed it. The universe around her was perfect._

_In her own imperfect mind, she remembered the power of a much larger frame and she remembered flying. She didn't ask her Creator questions except on the rare occasion He invited her to do so. She listened and followed direction and used the vocabulary and manner He preferred. When she misstepped or overreached, she accepted any correction, any punishment He dealt her without complaint or back-talk. He had saved her, she knew: she remembered the feeling of her body dying, processors fading. She remembered surprised blue optics reflecting a touch of the red of her own as she watched the tiny Altruist expire from the damage caused by the Traitor's strafing._

_She helped Shockwave build a new model of Seeker for Earth. More efficient, he would use no subspace. His camouflage would be an improvement over those already there because Shockwave selected it based on logic and critical evaluation of all options. She worked on the programming and listened as her Creator lamented the lack of a suitable spark for the shell. The body and processors were complete; all that was left was construction of a spark casing and procurement of a spark to enliven it. She looked forward to the trip to Vector Sigma. She didn't know how she knew, but Cobweb expected an exciting pilgrimage. She waited expectantly for Shockwave to tell her they were leaving._

_Orns passed. Her Creator assigned her other tasks that she performed without question. She was disappointed, thinking that perhaps the requisition for the Seeker had been canceled. Shockwave gave her an order that rekindled her hope for an adventure to Vector Sigma, telling her to go to the shop and wait there until after He finished speaking to Lord Megatron. "Aye, Master Shockwave," she accepted the direction and went to the shop. _Did He mean me to clean the area? Perform maintenance on one of his tools? _she thought but kept to herself. She did not fidget. She did not look around. She waited as directed._

_Shockwave walked briskly from the command center to the shop, she heard His steps on the deck plates. His gait was unhurried and certain, steady. He entered the compartment and walked straight over to her. Familiarly, He set His hands on her waist and lifted her to the nearest work bench. _Am I due for something? _she thought. Shockwave didn't act like He was doing anything unusual, but He was not checking any of her systems and He was not doing maintenance. He was just touching her gently, pleasantly. She waited, curious, trusting her Creator. Certain of her systems sped up and she trembled. Unsure of what He was doing and how she should respond, she tried to sit still. "Allow your systems to react," He said._

_She relaxed. _He's trying to show affection, _she thought and smiled shyly up at His expressionless face. She rested her hands on His hips timidly. He stroked the sensitive inside of her thigh-guards, pushing her legs apart and moving closer. He stimulated every seam, every sensor in the vicinity of her hip-joints, working His way to her engine. He built her; He knew her sensor net and the effect of every touch. Pieces of her plating moved aside, allowing Him better access, only partially of her will. With His right hand, He coaxed her spark chamber to start to open. She moaned. _Anything for you, Master, _she thought._

_Somehow He had something she didn't recognize in His left hand. She knew a moment of uncertainty. _This is wrong, _passed her processor, _that's a spark core. _She watched in horror as He triggered that foreign spark chamber open. Hers tried to close in self-defense, but He prevented it with the strength of His fingers. _It's supposed to be just You and me! _she wanted to protest. All that she could manage, trying to push away from Him, to scoot back farther on the bench, was, "No, Master-"_

_He roughly merged that other spark-energy with hers. She shrank from it but had no where to go, no way to shift her own spark away from the assault. The soul mingling with hers was weak, disoriented and questioning, confused but not afraid. She caught a question from it - _him_, she understood: _Primus? _he asked, and _Are you the Matrix? _He seemed accepting, serene and curious. Before she could form any kind of answer, his presence started to fade._

_It hurt, and it made her sad for the hopeful one who was dimming. The influx of energy made her feel like she was bursting, made her shake from her core to the ends of her fingers and the edges of her plating._

_Her Creator was not finished with her, with the two of them. As she felt her spark start to change, unable to keep her self, her unique personality, separate from that other, Shockwave did something. Even if some of her sensors - optics, audials, tactiles, fields, any of them - were positioned to receive the data with which she could have determined what it was He did, the pain was too much to take. Was there sound? Was there light? Was there vibration? The pain maxed out every sensor in her body, sending her processors signals too strong to decipher: white-out conditions on every channel. That other - she thought of him afterward as her mate - offered comfort even though his self was being subsumed into hers. Then the sensory overload passed. He was gone; her spark hurt; she felt diminished, weakened, exhausted. She thought she would die there._

_She wondered if Shockwave meant to kill her._

_Her sensors reset. Part of her processor noticed that her spark core was closed. She could hear Shockwave moving about, tinkering with something in the shop. She forced her body to work, shifting her plating back into place and sitting up. _When did I lie down? _she wondered. She watched as Shockwave finished making the connections for the new Seeker. Her very spark ached and she understood: _That's my offspring.

_Power reached the new one's optics. He looked at Shockwave, then at Cobweb. "Who are you?" Shockwave asked, and Cobweb wondered if he'd asked her the same thing when she first came aware._

_Looking at her, he answered Shockwave: "Call me Star-" his vocalizer fritzed on the last part. His glance flicked to Shockwave with a hint of fear and Cobweb resolved she would do anything in her power to prevent him ever feeling true fear. She felt love for this new being. He cycled his new vocalizer and tried again, "Star Runner. Call me Starrunner."_

She cycled her optics, reminding herself of where she really was: Earth, the mechanical shop, with Astrotrain. He was looking at her with an expression she couldn't read accurately, partly mixed of horror and anger, partly distress. He was standing strangely, holding his hands out. His look became questioning. Not knowing what he wanted, Cobweb did the only thing that made sense: she placed her hands in his. He held them lovingly and caressed her fingers with his thumbs. She didn't understand; he looked uncertain, himself. She met his optics. Then he knelt, as before, and made his optics level with hers as she sat. "You shouldn't have to remember that."

-X-X-X-

Astrotrain felt he should not assume; he held his hands out to her, asking permission to touch her, inviting Enny to him. After a moment she seemed to see him again. She stopped talking and set her hands in his with an air of resignation, as if she were giving up somehow. She looked up into his optics questioningly. Rather than look down at her, he knelt again, and stood straight on his knees, level with her on the staging table. Since she was not vocalizing, he thought maybe he should. "You shouldn't have to remember that." He thought it was the right thing to say: she started speaking again. Optics dim but lit, coolant flowing from behind them freely, she tried to describe what it felt like, told him the pain was only escapable during overload and the recharge of true exhaustion.

"Why am I telling you this?" she said dully, "Forgive me. Please, let's get to work."

"Shockwave's an unfeeling fragger," he began, "and too short-sighted to know what he had, in you. Femmes are so rare-"

She interrupted him, sounding pained and angry, "I wasn't a femme! I was Comettracker! He crammed my spark into this frame-"

Her vocalization had risen in pitch and decibel, and Astrotrain knew she didn't want others to know what she told him. He cut in quietly but firmly, "-and raised your meiotronic ratio way above the break. He made you more by putting you in this small form." _Did I know Comettracker?_

Quieter, sounding desperate, she added, "He used me. He- he raped my spark with that Autobot's! And-" she was physically shaking with the memory. Astrotrain released her hands and pulled her to his chest, offering as much comfort as he could, sitting down on the floor with her as he had, twice before, for other purposes. She grasped at hydraulic lines in his shoulders, something she could hold onto firmly with her small hands. "I- I almost welcomed it, trusting him, until I realized he wasn't loving me. He was using me. He was killing that Minibot, extinguishing what was left of his spark with mine. It was-" her voice hitched in a sob. She held onto him as if he were the Last Hope of Cybertron, "it was horrible. In battle- anytime before!- I'd have killed that Autobot! That stupid, useless Minibot! But he-" she was crying hard now, hands wrapped painfully in the lines in Astrotrain's shoulders. He didn't move, didn't try to make her let go.

He must have reacted somehow to the pain of her grip. Something made her realize she was squeezing too hard. Enny let go of him. "I'm sorry," she gasped.

"Don't be," he said, softly, "I can take it. Go on, what about that Minibot? What had he done?" Astrotrain didn't know if 'he' was the Minibot or Shockwave, but that was not important.

She replaced her hands on him, soothing the injured lines with the softness of her fingerpads. Astrotrain thought it was a positive sign that her extremities were no longer cold. Coolant continued to leak out around her de-energized optics. She held her head up, vocalizing toward Astrotrain to ensure he could hear her clearly at that low decibel. "The Minibot- He tried to save me, tried to keep me from being assassinated. It made no sense!" She paused to cycle air. Astrotrain was careful not to touch her exposed motor housing now that he knew it also contained her spark. He touched her face with his left hand, brushing at coolant on her plating. He stroked her back supportively - the subtly curved roof of her auto-mode - with his right hand. "Starscream," she resumed, and Astrotrain thought he was about to have a good reason to despise that mech, if he were somehow a party to Shockwave's actions. She continued, "-came around for a second pass after injuring me badly. I- I crawled into a ruined building, trying to save myself, knowing my body was failing. Starscream was too useless, too much a coward to transform and finish me in person. He strafed. The little Autobot- He was possibly smaller than I am, now. He tried to protect me. I- I don't understand why. He had to know who I was, at least see the faction marks on me. But he stood between me and Starscream with his blaster and tried to shield me. Starscream shot us and left us for dead. I- Shockwave- He built me, as I am now. I was aware of myself again, and just getting established in this body, remembering it was not my own, my original. I looked on Shockwave as my savior, I realized he had found my spark chamber. I- I would have done anything he asked me to and he- and Shockwave- Delta would never have-"

Astrotrain waited, listening to her cooling system complain. She seemed to have said all she was going to, crying quietly again, head bowed. She certainly told him more than he expected. "We'll refill your cooling system," he said, as normally as he could, thinking, _Starrunner has all of that Minibot's spark-energy, and a good portion of yours. He is your child._ He processed again the unfamiliar word, and decided that he wouldn't be thanking Shockwave the next time he saw him as much as educating him on how not to treat a sparked being. _And Starscream..._ He held her against his chest. She stopped crying.

Lost, each in dark thoughts, they were startled by the sound of the door buzzer. Astrotrain remembered that he locked it, and ignored it, not interested in dealing with anyone else right then. He tucked Enny's head under his chin and held her tightly, wanting to be that hope for her.

The buzzer was triggered again. Starscream complained to someone in the corridor, "He's probably out flying. Come on! We don't need Astrotrain. You can fix me-"

The mech nearest the door, probably Skywarp, cut him off: "Screamer you're as fixed as we can make you. Lemme leave him a message, at least."

"I'm fine," Starscream's voice faded as he spoke, probably turning away from the door and leaving. There was no more sound from the hallway.

"I wonder what happened to that slag-heap this time," Astrotrain mused. Starscream, who treated him with disdain at every turn, was one of his most regular customers. "He's so vain! Every little scratch, he's in here. I wish I could disappear like you do. But if he had Skywarp with him, there's something significant wrong." He was really just vocalizing to have something to listen to, used to carrying on one-sided conversations with Enny.

She responded, surprising him. "He was probably injured last night," she said with some certainty, and shifted to look up at him with powered, dim optics. They had just a hint of red in them at low power; Astrotrain wondered if that was something Shockwave designed or something Enny controlled consciously. She continued, "He- his Trine probably attacked Starrunner. They could have caused the life-fear I felt from him last night." She looked like she might start to cry again at that thought.

"That's what affected you," he said. She dimmed her optics once, a silent 'yes', essentially turning them completely off and back on. "Your spark is still tied to his. I remember hearing something about that, part of the reason why females who sided with the Decepticon cause wore themselves out so quickly. When it happens again, you can tell me. You don't have to run away."

Enny smiled slightly, trying to regain her humor. Astrotrain assumed her systems had run through the catalyst she took when she thought he wasn't looking, that she must be struggling through coming down. She gestured to her legs, "I couldn't run away now if I wanted to."

He smiled back and chuckled a little, appreciating that she felt up to trying to make a joke. He gave Enny a slight squeeze of a hug and held her up under her arms so he could stand and settle her on the work bench. "Maybe I should leave you this way, then?" he offered, trailing his hands over the unhindered segments of her legs. "Let you be a hostage to my shop." _Do you know I want you here?_ She looked like she was taking him literally: the partial battle mask slid back into place over her mouth and jaw and her expression hardened. He couldn't allow that! He continued down the path: "I'd claim your energon for you and sustain you by energy-transfer." _Will you let me care for you?_ He let his pumps cycle faster, as if at the memory of that intimate process. He watched her struggle to the conclusion that he was kidding. He slowed those pumps back down, "But I like it when you appear beside me after Soundwave's daily." _Keep doing that?_ He pretended to think about it. "I think you still startle some of the others even after a month." _Don't let them know you?_ He paused and leaned forward with a smile and a kiss to the edge of her mask. "Just because you claim your ration every day, doesn't mean you can't let me top off your levels once in a while." _Please?_

Astrotrain took the precarious but happy look she gave him as answer enough, and offered Enny her original strut and its new twin for inspection.

* * *

_-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-Footnote-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-_

The term 'meiotronic ratio' refers to the spark-energy-per-unit-mass of a robotic being. It comes from the term 'meiosis' which is the name of the process by which gametes (i.e., sex-cells, eggs and sperm) are produced in preparation for mating, for production of a new, unique being from half each of two donors' genetic material. In complex sexual creatures (all of them on Earth, outside of a few fungi which remain uniform and produce isogametes) there are two very distinct classes, female and male, the distinction being the investment the individual makes in gametes. Those who invest relatively heavily, producing few gametes with lots of nutrient and instructions for cell creation and division in addition to the donor's genetic material, are designated 'female'. Those who invest very little, producing abundant gametes with nothing but genetic material and a disposable cell to carry it, are designated 'male'. (See Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene chapter 9 _Battle of the Sexes_.) Since canon spells out the existence of specifically female Cybertronians, there has to be something that makes them qualify as such and it has to be connected to why they would have been driven nearly out of existence in the war. Vector Sigma, the source of original Cybertronian sparks, can be hidden, lost, possibly even destroyed, so there must be a way for Transformers to reproduce themselves; it must be sexual else there would be no need to designate male and female. Since fabricating a new frame is nothing more than engineering, the spark is the answer. Any set of Cybertronians, any number, can donate spark-energy to create a new one and when there is enough, that new one can live independently in a robotic body. How much spark-energy one can donate safely is dictated by one's meiotronic ratio: the higher, the more. There is a known quantity - Astrotrain referred to it as 'the break' - below which one is considered male and above, female. Technically, a female alone can contribute enough to spark a new frame and still be functional herself, but that spark would be identical to her spark: an identical twin soul, not a child. A male can contribute very little and still be functional, really only enough to differentiate the new spark from the mother's spark - but that's all that is needed if two beings have decided they are ready to pursue that creative process together. Willing and prepared, the pain for both is minimal and forgotten in the thrill of such an intimate, beautiful, creative encounter. Even several males cannot safely contribute enough total spark-energy to make even a tiny new Cybertronian viable. (They might be able to do it and _survive_, given immediate medical care afterward and sufficient time to convalesce and recover their spark-energy. That's not available in wartime.)

When the war escalated, Decepticon femmes strove for efficiency. They sparked as many shells as the technicians could produce, willingly giving of themselves for the cause. They simply wore themselves out, each one's spark-energy finally failing to recover to the original level. Some survived, but as mechs; others faded away completely, dying. (I'm sure they were mourned as heroes of the cause and the survivors given appropriate new roles and the respect their dedication and sacrifice commanded.) Autobot femmes went about their business as warriors and technicians and whatever-they-were, reproducing only at the usual (read: extremely low) wartime rate until the Autobots realized, too late, that the Decepticons were targeting them specifically, even hunting them, to prevent the production of more Autobots. The Decepticons believed female Transformers extinct after Shockwave reported destruction of the last known Autobot base on Cybertron - Iacon - sometime after Megatron left in pursuit of Optimus Prime. The Autobots hoped against logic that somehow some of their brothers- (and sisters-) in-arms escaped that attack.

So, why not simply transfer some mechs' sparks into smaller forms to raise their ratios above the threshold and get the sexes back in some semblance of balance? First, new shells are costly in all sorts of resources (time, materials, expertise that could otherwise be devoted to the war). Second, who's to dictate someone else undergo such a procedure? (Even Megatron would not go there!) Third, in war, bigger is almost always better and short-term survival trumps long-term stability. Meaning that if a new frame is sparked, it is going to be as massive as the spark intended for it can reasonably handle and so, a male. Also, meaning that truly massive individuals are not going to be 'reassigned' smaller frames just to drive their meiotronic ratios up. Even if such a measure were entertained, the only way to bring most males' ratios up high enough is to give them bodies several tens (or hundreds) of times less massive: turn an Omega Supreme into an Ironhide, or a Skyfire into a Cosmos. And that only if their spark-energies were high for mechs their sizes in the first place.

* * *

_I didn't believe there was a definite purpose to sexes in Cybertronians until Cobweb and Starrunner explained it to me. It took some getting used to._

_-:- Lora Starrunner_


	3. Everything For You

Title: _Everything for You_

Universe: loosely G1 cartoon. Sequel to _Anything You Like_ and _Something About You_, contains foreshadowing for the episode _Triple Takeover_.

Rated: R for physical intimacy between mechanical beings, including plug-n-play.

Pairing: Astrotrain/Cobweb.

Author's Notes: Only Cobweb (nicknamed 'Enny') is mine, all else belong to corporations. Astrotrain thought the March 2008 challenge at MechaErotica, _The Mile High Club_, was written for him, but Cobweb's presence would give away the author. The goal was NC-17 and _Plot? What Plot?!_, yet it didn't happen that way: there's too much going on in their world. 4100 words.

_The system here does not like email addresses, but the email exchange retains at least some of its cuteness._

* * *

Astrotrain found himself wanting to do everything for Enny. It dawned on him during Soundwave's daily tag-up a few days after she finally opened up to him that he had even offered, only half-jokingly, to process Enny's energon for her. He did not allow himself to follow that train of thought, wrenching his processor away from the memory of energy transfer via hard-line. _I am lost,_ he thought. But he would have smiled to himself had he not been surrounded by the other officers at the time, and supposed to be listening to Scrapper's report.

Even knowing and being reassured that Enny counted herself his partner, even his friend, his energon pumps skipped a cycle when she fell in beside him as he left the meeting. Outwardly, it was as if nothing had changed, as if that meeting were not the only time in the day they were not together. As far as he knew, only three were aware of the change in living conditions: Enny, Astrotrain himself, and Blitzwing. Astrotrain's surprisingly cooperative roommate said he did not care if all the Casseticons themselves took up residence in their space, as long as they each sat an equal share of the watch so he got more recharge, and of course kept their pilfering hands off him.

"And if you want me to never mention it to anyone," he had added, obviously thinking himself very shrewd to have thought of the further stipulation, "I get first watch, every time." Knowing Blitzwing as well as he did, Astrotrain made it look like a hardship, made Blitzwing argue for it, so he could feel like he won it. In fact, that was as Astrotrain and Enny also wanted: Blitzwing in recharge was guaranteed oblivious for at least half a groon - about three hours - so they were assured true privacy for that long every day. He looked down at her askance as they walked in their companionable silence to the shop to get to work. She smoothly kept up with him, two measured steps to each of his, so he knew the replacement part he had made was working out well.

As they rode the lift down to the shop, Astrotrain made an impulsive decision for the day: "As soon as liberty commences," he said, "we'll go flying."

Enny looked up at him, clearly pleased with the idea.

"Have you been out of the base since we arrived from Cybertron?"

Enny made a negating gesture, and allowed a slightly wistful look on her scant faceplates. It seemed she was not unaffected by the sense of confinement.

The lift opened on the level of the workshops and they went on to the mechanical shop. "Is it that you can't fly at all, or that you can't fly far?"

Of course, Enny did not answer such a complex question, speaking as little as she was wont, knowing he would come to the answer on his own or at least say things she could answer by body language if she let him talk. Enny's habitual silence did not bother Astrotrain. He would happily carry the conversation for her, and include her as a matter of course, trusting now that if there were a matter of true importance to him, Enny would speak.

Astrotrain keyed open the shop door. "I've seen some Autobots with ground-bound alt-modes take to the air briefly in their primary modes. I thought Shockwave might have based your design on them."

Enny looked at him sharply as she stepped through the portal ahead of him, not angrily or reprovingly just negatingly - he knew the subtlety of the difference between them - so that was not Shockwave's intent. "Efficiency," he could almost hear her remind him of her creator's only motive.

He followed her, letting the door cycle shut behind him, "That dim-spark!" he said, "Did he leave you completely flightless?" Astrotrain had not believed Starscream when he referred to Enny as "the little flightless one" when they first arrived, thinking the arrogant Seeker was merely showing disdain of Enny, as he was disdainful of everything and everyone not a Seeker.

Enny made a dull, affirmative gesture as she climbed up to the workbench. She settled on it, legs folded beneath her, and reached for the processor she had begun programming the day before. She met his gaze, consciously lightening her expression and dimming her optics slowly at him once, inclining her head and indicating with one delicate hand the ladder-like additions Astrotrain had made to the workbench for her, changing the topic of conversation with that silent _Thank you_. It not only gave the little Decepticon an added level of autonomy in the room scaled for the Triple-changer's height but removed logical excuses for him to be lifting her about.

He smiled at her. "You are welcome," he answered, then added, "I would have done it sooner if you told me I was touching your spark casing when I picked you up to look at something."

Astrotrain was not really pricking at her silence, and she knew it. She mimed dismissal of his comment, and made a show of going diligently to work on her programming task.

"Local twilight in three-point-two-one-seven hours," he said, settling to work, too, "so we will leave in three-point-three."

-X-X-X-

Cobweb wanted a chance to access the natives' so-called world-wide web. _If only I could have gone outside sooner,_ she thought as she worked, programming a core processor not requiring her full capacity. _I could be in contact with Starrunner._ That was not quite true. _Except for being confined to the base._ She would not let the opportunity pass if Astrotrain created one, nor would she leave out either of her new allies, even if Blitzwing were tentative at best. _Astrotrain is closer to me than Starrunner,_ she realized. _At least, he knows more about me now, and cares anyway._

She knew Astrotrain was looking at her: the sounds of his activity had ceased. _Our leadership is not good enough to him,_ she thought, turning to catch him staring, _yet another reason to overthrow Soundwave and Megatron._

-X-X-X-

Those hours passed in companionable silence, each mostly engrossed in the task at hand. As sunset approached, Astrotrain found himself more attentive to his internal chronometer than his work. After measuring the same bit of potential endostructure at least four times, he set it down on the work bench and looked at the subject of his thoughts.

Enny might have heard him stop measuring, or might have had a sense of being observed closely: either way, she caught him staring. She smiled knowingly, the slightest movement of her lip components, the brightening of a lightly-tinted optic.

The structure of the base carried the sounds of the tower rising, signaling the commencement of liberty and most significant activity.

Astrotrain watched Enny disconnect from her work and unfurl from her seated position. He found her movement pleasing, if not precisely graceful. She displayed an efficiency of motion that was unique in his experience, the product of Shockwave's obsessive efforts. _He may be an unfeeling drone,_ Astrotrain thought, keeping it to himself since he knew Enny did not want to think about her maker any more, _but you are fascinating._ He decided part of that thought was worth sharing, as Enny looked at him questioningly.

"You're fascinating," he vocalized at a decibel calculated to draw her closer to try to hear more clearly.

Astrotrain got his wish: Enny stepped toward him on the bench. He had to look up at her: the bench was the perfect height for interfacing if she sat on the edge of it and he stood. The present angle of view was interesting. He feigned coyness, to see what she would do if he displayed hesitance. Enny's smile broadened. She stopped within her arms reach of him and called his bluff: "Do we fly for supplies? Or for pleasure?" she asked slowly, nearly purring the last word at him.

He let the systems he had been carefully modulating speed up as they wanted, reaching for her. "Pleasure, my friend," he said, holding her against his chestplate and looking straight up into her face, "purely for the pleasure of your company. We might procure a few things along the way."

She inclined her head and crouched a bit in his grasp, bringing her motor housing in contact with his wrists on purpose. Lips brushing his as she vocalized, she asked suggestively, "Just company?"

Capturing her teasing lip components with his required only a tiny movement of his much larger head. He kissed her hungrily, thinking to let that stand for his answer. Then he thought better of it and broke the kiss to say, "Let's go out before we forget to go out."

Enny laughed - she genuinely laughed, with no bitterness or tinge of regret, the tinkly sound a blessing to Astrotrain - and caressed the hinges of his airfoil promisingly.

Astrotrain thought he would do whatever it took, to hear laughter from Enny as often as possible.

-X-X-X-

Both transformed as they walked out on the platform above the waves. Astrotrain, obviously, was going to fly from there, but Enny chose to leave the Nemesis in her boxy alt-mode. He found it ironic that she seemed even smaller in that form. _You're being ironic, aren't you?_ he thought, as she rolled up his boarding ramp and he registered that pleasurable feeling of tires across his usually desensitized deck plating. _My mass comes out of subspace in this mode, so I'm a lot bigger. Really bigger. You don't even have subspace, you just fold inward and look a lot smaller. It's an appearance only. A visual deception._ He launched from the platform and headed north and east, thinking an aurora would be a pleasant thing for Enny to observe, a phenomenon never seen on Cybertron, its atmosphere being completely constructed and well-contained, magnetic field induced specifically to prevent cosmic particle damage to it. She transformed and rested her hands against the nearest bulkhead, seeming deep in thought, optics off. They reached the Bering Strait, at an altitude that let them see the curvature of the planet before them.

"There it is," he said with some wonder, "come, look out from the cockpit." The green glow washed over him and into his forward windows. "_Aurora Borealis_ they call it. Northern Lights." Enny sat in the pilot's seat; Astrotrain decided that was validation of the seemingly purposeless sensor fibers built into that normally useless internal appendage. Hands elsewhere and in another form, he could still touch her, still feel the warmth and revolutions of her engine through its housing, the slight firm curve of her back, the teasing touch of her fingers on the seldom-used armrests.

"It is beautiful," Enny said softly. She rested her hands gently on his console, and idly traced the edges of some of his vestigial instrument faces. Her motor vibrated softly, just an idle sort of speed that carried perfectly through the seat and into his primary structure.

"It would have done any number of artists proud," he agreed. "Perhaps when we get home, we can redesign Cybertron's magnetic bottle, allow the interstellar wind to play like this with our atmosphere."

He was rewarded with that light laugh and further exploration of his console. She settled more completely into her perch.

"Keep doing that," he said appreciatively, "and I'll have to orbit or crash."

"Orbit, please."

Astrotrain achieved it easily, whipping through the rarefied atmosphere, plating energized to deflect debris until they cleared the altitudes the natives used. "Humans are messy," he opined absently, attention focused inward now that his altitude and speed would take care of themselves.

"You are near a port and plug," he said at his lowest decibel, as if there were anyone else to hear him. "I-," he hesitated, suddenly shy.

Enny had wrapped her lower extremities around the base of the seat to hold herself in place in micro-gravity; she was doing something distracting to his yoke with her hands. She paused when he did, and looked at the console with a listening attitude. His nearest internal optical sensors were behind her, but she had no way to know that.

Astrotrain was nervous. He did not know why. "I," he began again, at that same conspiratorial volume he used with Enny the first time they spoke, "I would like to be plugged into you. If-," he paused again unreasonably uncertain, "if you don't mind."

Then it felt as if he could not afford silence. He did not vocalize rapidly, just steadily: "It is not as if I can move to plug into you, in this form. You don't have to do it, it will be all right with me if you don't, if you don't want to. It's- I- You- You might never plug into me, it's kind of fearsome, to know someone else has access to all your processors and data banks. Not-," he paused, feeling Enny shift position in the seat but unable to observe exactly what she was doing with her hands from that angle. Only one of them still rested on his yoke. She found his interface port and caressed it delicately.

"Not that it scares me, to be plugged into you, Enny." He opened the port. She touched but did not uncoil his cable. "I trust you. You're-"

Something clicked into place. Astrotrain felt the physical connection; it was followed in rapid succession by an electrical and then a data transferal link. Enny had plugged into him! He felt his consciousness spread into her form, as if the little mechanoid were an extension of his nominal body, her processors peripheral to his.

_Hello you,_ she held in her CPU long enough for him to read clearly. Astrotrain felt her ingrained fear of submission as if it were his own, felt her trust in him, felt her anticipation of closeness. Gently, never having driven such a small form, he directed her right hand to grasp his own interface cable. It gave him a strange but pleasant sense of displacement, of juxtaposition: he saw Enny move, felt her mass shift against him, felt the pressure of his body against her back and legs and spark housing, felt the sensations of movement and registered the strangeness of watching her own hand move without her directing it. Enny's wonder at him filled him with the same and nearly distracted him from the unaccustomed motion.

_You made it feel easy,_ he said in her processor with awe, _when you directed my movements._ Her hand drew his cable from its housing, of his will reinforced by hers.

_I had an advantage,_ she offered with amusement, regret fading so far into the back of her mind as to be soon forgotten, _my original frame was at least as large as yours, in primary mode. Nearly as massive,_ she was explaining as he made the second connection, _and as big. With wings pushed up, above my shoulders._ She had a mental image of that lost form, not visual but a memory of the feeling of that body, of Comettracker's body. Astrotrain felt it, remembered it with her. Dual connection in place, they were as one entity, shared out across two forms.

He did not pry into her processor or data banks, as she had not and did not now pry into his. They shared each as they wanted, as they felt ready to do.

Enny's main energy level, Astrotrain found, was in a precarious balance with her spark-energy level. She was close to the tipping-point already, where the missing spark-energy would no longer be offset by the fields of her power system and the pain would return to the fore. Astrotrain could feel it, as if it were his own, hovering on the edge of awareness.

_Your spark was not allowed to recover after being split._

_No,_ she agreed dully, memory of being bound briefly to that other's spark, then sundered, vivid for both of them. _My mate,_ she lamented, un-self-consciously, _for only a moment. Passed as quickly._

_You did not even know his name._

_I did not even know his name._

They were filled with sadness for his loss.

They realized this was not how they wanted to spend their liberty.

_I understand now,_ Astrotrain thought with certainty, filling them with acceptance and care and hope, _I thought I understood before. Thank you for letting me know, for trusting me._

_You love me._ Enny's thought, in both their processors.

It was not in his personality to think that word himself, but he had no reason and no desire to deny or question her statement. He simply allowed energy to flow across their network, from their large power system to their smaller one, careful to balance the level against her spark-energy.

-X-X-X-

_Overloading at orbital velocity,_ he thought after an impact with a small human satellite jarred him fully aware, _should be undertaken at higher altitude._

"We must do this again," he said aloud as Enny stirred against his plating. He had disconnected his cable from Enny during a period of lucidity, directing the movements of her body smoothly enough that she was not roused from recharge. Enny was still plugged into him: she would have to manage that herself because he would not be able to properly stow her cable after that connection was broken.

_I cannot do everything for you, my love,_ he tried out the word in his CPU, and the universe didn't cease, the matter of his being didn't convert immediately to energy, his orbital plane didn't even shift, _but I will do all I am able, all you allow me._

"Rest," he said to her soothingly, aloud and in her processor, settling her small frame more comfortably across the pilot and co-pilot's seats. He made some adjustments to her power system, tricks he had learned over the eons, to help it process the energy he had passed her more effectively.

When he began his descent, carefully avoiding the line-of-sight of the human space station, Enny's processors spun up. She did not move right away, running a brief self-assessment and enjoying the comfort of her location.

_This is better than sleeping on your wing,_ she thought at him, knowing he was reading her as a peripheral.

"It's too bad our chamber is too small to allow me to transform," he said, sending her an image of the damage he would to do the bulkheads if he succeeded in transforming there, "because I could stand watch over you this way and Blitzwing would never need to know you were with us. You could get the recharge you need, maybe even begin to recover your spark-energy."

She turned toward the optical sensor suite at the rear of the cockpit and smiled at him, at the image he sent her, amused. The smile remained, but changed, subtle as all her expressions were with her minimal plating. _You do love me,_ she thought, not intended for his perception, but there nonetheless.

"I'm all right, Astrotrain," she said aloud, "you help more than you know." She sat up, careful of her interface cable. It was strange for her, he could read in her processor, to not have his actual face to look toward, but she was reasonable and able to keep in mind that the non-descript sensors behind the glass really were his optics just as much as the ones she normally met. He felt from her the same desire to protect him, the same need of their connection, and more wonder at those feelings than he himself felt because she had not believed herself capable of such personal investment, not even before her experience with Shockwave. Comettracker's only love had been of the professional, distant sort: intense and passionate, sure, but not romantic, never intimate. That she could feel intensely for him, and for Starrunner, and even for her lost mate, amazed her. It also made her look for ways to prevent losing contact with him. He understood.

_In case we're ever parted,_ she thought, certain he was there in her CPU with her, _I have taken precautions._ She indicated a packet of data and continued while he transferred it to his own processors, _as long as we are on Earth and no one blocks our transmission to the human web, we can have contact. Not immediate. Not as we have when we are connected to each other. Enough to tell where we are, what happened, plan a way to reunite._ Her processor was quiet a tick. Then, _I won't lose you as I lost Starrunner,_ she thought. Again, not for his consumption.

He read the data and stored it away, encoded in case someone hacked his processors. It had happened before; the same war still raged, and he was allied now as then with Decepticons, so he had no reason to believe it could not happen again. It was a simplistic connection protocol, an address on a rudimentary bus, a set of email addresses, one of which was his and had a password associated with it.

"Primitive," he said, "but thank you. I understand."

Enny disengaged from him and hid her cable back under her plating. Astrotrain was amazed at the shyness of her body language in that moment. He felt he should turn away for her privacy, but could not offer her that physical gesture.

What he could do was make a show of his attention being elsewhere. "I think we're low enough now to make contact with the web," he said, "let me try to send you a message." He made the connection.

"Slow your transmission speed," she said, standing up to walk around the cockpit. "Don't transmit faster than a megabit per second."

"Right," he said, slowing down accordingly. "I'm logging in as A T Rockwell at graffiti dot net. Nice password. I'm not changing it, since you chose it for me." He would have leered had he been bipedal.

"So, send me a message, Space Cowboy," Enny said, using her transceiver to login to her own brand new account, joining the joke about the silly password. "You'd like the one I picked for Blitzwing."

"Really?" he said, sending his first message through the human network, to his lover inside his own shell. "This is ridiculous. You're right here-"

"We're verifying it works," she said, patting the bulkhead under the optical sensors as tenderly as if it were his face. "Best done while we're together."

"Aye."

-X-X-X-

from: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
to: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
subject: contact  
message text: you know what id rather be doing right now

from: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
to: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: Do I?

from: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
to: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: remember that panel you first found

from: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
to: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: I do. Let's save that for later.

from: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
to: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: why not now

from: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
to: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: You will crash.

from: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
to: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: maybe but what a way to go

from: c-w-cooper at graffiti. net  
to: a-t-rockwell at graffiti. net  
subject: RE:contact  
message text: Speak for yourself!

Cobweb vocalized as she sent the last reply. "Starrunner was run off by other Seekers. Led by the one who ordered him built." She looked searchingly into the sensors before her, as if hoping for some level of expressiveness. "You and Blitzwing are useful to the garrison. Well-known, but not popular. The only reason anyone besides you and now Blitzwing knows I exist is because I show up in the ration roster. Either of us is likely to be driven away. Or worse, left behind. I am forgettable. You may be regrettable."

-X-X-X-

Astrotrain almost protested that last, that Thundercracker and Skywarp would not leave him behind after the help he'd given Thundercracker on their first mission together. He thought better of it: if Starscream could order them to drive another Seeker, one of their own, away from them, what might the Air Commander be able to order them to do to him? Worse, to Enny? Soundwave knew Astrotrain remembered his first specialty; that knowledge might be enough for Soundwave to want him disposed of, too.

Another reason they might want the Triple-changers out of the way presented itself to Astrotrain: "They would do that because we are too powerful, too likely to insert ourselves as Megatron's successors."

"You are more powerful than they are. Both of you." Enny strapped herself to a passenger bench for landing - they had a procurement run to make. "Together you could defeat Megatron himself."

Astrotrain triggered his auto-record function: that insight from Enny required thorough contemplation.


End file.
